India will supply an additional 80 megawatt of electricity from January 1, 2017, to lessen the energy crisis in the Himalayan nation.

According to the Indian Embassy here, Nepal’s Minister of Energy Janardan Sharma held discussions with Indian Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal earlier this month.

Besides reviewing cooperative and expanding ties between the two countries in the power/energy sector, Sharma requested for an additional 80 MW from India to help tackle power shortage in Nepal owing to seasonal reduction in supply from domestic hydroelecticity projects in he winter months, an Embassy statement read.

In a swift response, the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) installed an additional 220/132 kilo Volt 100MVA transformer at Muzaffarpur substation in India to facilitate additional power supply through the Muzaffarpur (India)-Dhalkebar (Nepal) transmission line.

With additional energy, the total electricity supply to Nepal from India will be about 400 MW.

Sharma met Goyal in Delhi on Friday and thanked him for the efforts made to facilitate the supply of additional power.

The electrical grids of India and Nepal are connected through various radial lines with 132 kV, 33 kV and 11 kV voltage levels.

Prior to February 2016, as per Nepal’s requests from time to time, various short-term augmentation schemes were implemented to increase power flow to Nepal from 50 MW to about 240 MW.

In February 2016, the Prime Ministers of India and Nepal inaugurated the first high capacity 400 kV cross-border line (initially operated at 132kV) from Muzaffarpur in India to Dhalkebar in Nepal. This resulted in additional flow of 80 MW, enhancing the total power supply to Nepal to about 320 MW.

India is also working with Nepal to supply power through 132 kV lines of Raxaul-Parwanipur and Kataiya-Kushaha, which are being commissioned through assistance from the the government of India.

India, through the PGCIL, has also assisted Nepal in preparation of electricity master plans — short-term (up to 2018-19), midterm (up to 2021-22) and long-term (up to 2035).

Accordingly, a number of high-capacity cross-border interconnections are being considered between India and Nepal.

Initially, these interconnections would be utilised for transfer of power from India to Nepal and later with the development of hydroelectric projects in Nepal, these links would be utilised for transfer of surplus power from Nepal to India.